Celebrity Loves Me, Celebrity Loves Me Not
by Annabeth-Athena's Daughter
Summary: DISCONTINUED; FEEL FREE TO ADOPT. A famous teenage celebrity by the name of Annabeth Chase secretly attends Goode High School under the false identity of "Anne Chaneys." Percy and Co. also attend Goode High. What happens when Annabeth and Percy's worlds collide? Read to find out!
1. Prologue: Guess what? I'm a superstar

_Prologue: Guess what? I'm a superstar._

**Author's Note: (Please take the time to read this; it'll really help you understand the story better!) So, hai (Yes, hai, not hi! Deal with it!) fellow Percabeth fans! This is my first fanfiction story, but please don't underestimate my literary skills! (Don't overestimate them, either…) Anyways, this is a nondemigod story, but many people from the PJatO gang will be included. Sorry if it's a little OOC; I will try my best to keep the characters' personalities reasonably accurate. Just for clarification, none of them have dyslexia and/or ADHD. Just because I do not want to have to bother dealing with age-related dilemmas, so all of them are the same age (except for Luke). That includes Silena, Beckendorf, Nico, and Thalia.**

**This story will also incorporate many of our most beloved pairings: Percabeth (well no duh!), Thalico, Tratie, Juniper/Grover (what's their couple name again? Is it Groviper? I don't seem to remember...), Clarisse/Chris (dunno their couple name either), and finally last but definitely not least, Silena/Beckendorf! (They're a really cute couple, but do they even have a couple name? Help me out here, guys!) Three cheers for Percy + Annabeth! Cutest fiction couple ever! (At least in my opinion.) Sorry, I'm rambling again! So without any further ado, on with the story! R&R!**

_Summary: Annabeth Chase is a famous teen celebrity singer that practically all of the teen male population adore. Anne Chaneys is a mysterious, pretty, witty, amazing-at-singing new student at Goode High, the school that Percy and Co. attends. I think you can figure  
>out the rest...<br>_  
><strong>Disclaimer ~ I'm not doing this more than once - it's unnecessary. Rick Riordan has full rights to PJatO, as well as all the characters and settings used in the books. I do not own anything, except for the plot.<strong>

Annabeth's POV  
>Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you, an ordinary teenage girl, posted a video on YouTube of yourself singing a song you like and playing the guitar that got nearly two million views within the first day of it being posted online?<p>

And then what would happen if you became an instant sensation and the newest teen idol because of your voice in that two-and-a-half minutes long video?

And then how crazy it would be if you became a real artist, writing and performing music onstage and selling albums that were extremely successful, and then getting a personal manager and stylist?

And then what if at the Grammy's Awards you won the title of Best Female Artist of the Year for the second year in a row, as well as earning several other awards for your best songs?

And then, how amazing do you think it would be if your face began to show up regularly on the cover of J-14, and the super-hot-actor-girls-always-swoon-over-one-and-only Luke Castellan asked you out?

And if you started dating, and became the paparazzi and the public's "favorite celebrity couple of all time"?

And what if all of that actually happened to you?

Hi, I'm Annabeth Chase, a.k.a. America's Sweetheart, and I'm the newest teen celebrity.

I honestly had absolutely no idea the video I posted on YouTube that fateful Sunday evening would make me what I am today. I was an average eighth grader, more of a nerd that anything else, really, a month away from turning fourteen. I has nothing to do because I had finished all my homework the day before and for some reason I wasn't really in the mood to read or play the guitar like I usually do when I'm bored. So I listened to the radio and surfed the web. My favorite song came on and I sang along, pouring my heart out into the words and soothing melody, while using my laptop's camera to videotape it.

Then I was searching up random YouTube videos (yes, I do have a life, thank you very much! I was just BORED!) and I thought to myself, "Why not post the video of me?" So I did, and next thing you know, some music producer dude is knocking on my door and I'm suddenly so popular and famous for posting a silly little video of me singing online. Everybody at school knows me and acts so nice and stuff to me now. Especially the "popular group" that used to take such pleasure from tormenting me.

I remember the endless taunts, accompanied by cruel snickers and choruses of _"good one!"_ and additional snide comments, as if I wasn't standing there and hearing every single word that was slowly gnawing away at my self-confidence. I had stood up to them every time the bullying had occurred, but eventually I had began to believe them, to doubt myself and wonder if they were right about what they said about me, that I really was a nerd, a loser, a goody-two-shoes.

After a while, I had pretty much gotten used to the usual sneers and smirks of _"Oh no, look out, it's the geek!"_ and _"Did you have fun at the dance? Oh, right, sorry, I forgot, you didn't get a date to the dance. Nobody wanted to ask a freak like you."_ and _"Too bad you didn't get to go to the party at Michael's last Friday night. It was a total blast. Sarah and Nick finally got together. It was so cute! Sucks for you that you missed it. But then again, you miss all the parties. After all, why would a prude like you ever get invited to one?" _The bullying hurt me quite a bit the inside, but I promised myself I would stay strong. I would keep my face impassive, never let tears leak or get angry at them. I would just ignore them as best I could. It was an incredibly hard thing for me to do, but I refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry or provoked into fighting back. Thankfully, the bullying never became physical. They never hit me or anything, just insulted me.

I don't think they insulted me for my natural looks. I was born with soft, silky blonde curly hair. I have long, tan limbs and I don't get sunburned easily. I don't think I'm very ugly. Sometimes when I dress really nicely, I even think I almost look kinda pretty. But the thing is, most of the time I don't care about my looks. I don't wear makeup or jewelry, and I wear simple, unbranded clothing. Don't get me wrong - I'm not a hobo who doesn't care what he looks and smells like. I have proper hygiene and nice, clean clothes. I just don't obsess over my appearance like most of my female classmates do. This made me an easy target for the "popular crowd".

I've always been a bit of a know-it-all as well, or what you might call a tryhard. I don't try to be a snobbish teacher's pet or anything. I just pay attention and participate in class, and get straight A-pluses. And guess what? I'm labeled as a nerd, a geek, an overachiever.

But then I suddenly became this incredible aspiring superstar, and the "popular club" stopped the bullying. In fact, they practically begged for me to sit with them at lunch and hang out together afterschool and during the weekends. But every time I politely refused. I would still eat my lunch alone in a secluded area at the edge of the courtyard, in the shadow of a maple tree, eating while reading, usually books on architecture. My current read was a fascinating study of the "Seven Great Wonders of the Ancient World". I spent my days peacefully, for once not bothered anymore by the "popular club", being as studious as ever, and beginning to write my own songs. I had been playing the guitar for five years, and I was really quite decent, if I may say so myself.

But then it really started to get out of hand when I started to become a real, genuine artist. Other students swarmed me and asked for my autograph so I was late to classes. The teachers didn't get really mad at me because I was always their star student but still, I hated being tardy.

The worst part was the press. The paparazzi started showing up on campus before- and after-school. My newly appointed personal manager insisted that I hire a bodyguard, but I really didn't want to. Eventually I quit school and hired a professional tutor instead. I got a personal stylist as well and for once in my life I began to care about what I wore. My old clothes were abandoned, and my stylist chose every single thing I wore, including my undergarments and pajamas! And yes, she was very picky. I adored her. **(A/N: Guess who she is - I'll reveal her identity in the next chapter!)**

I practically lived at the gigantic recording studio. I took my academic lessons there, ate there, sang there, played sports there (actually played it, not just virtually on the Wii or something), hung out with my stylist there - it had a full game room, with so much technology you wouldn't believe your eyes, and I had become close friends with my stylist, as she was my age - and in general spent the whole day there (8 A.M. to 9 P.M) on every day of the week except for Sundays, when the studio was closed. Even though I wasn't supposed to be there that long, my manager and the studio employees didn't mind if I stayed there extra; it actually meant they made more money, since I wrote more songs whenever I was there. Every evening my dad would pick me up, and I would be holding my pajamas for the evening and the next day's outfit, and then every morning my dad would drop me off, and I would be wearing the selected outfit and would return the previous day's outfit and pajamas. The system worked out well. On Sundays I'd quietly stay out of the way, either in my room doing the homework my tutor assigned me, or outside jogging or just taking a breather.

And then came the family issues.

You see, my parents were never married. They met in college, at Harvard_ (A/N: That's actually where Annabeth's dad went to school and met Athena)_, and dated for a couple years, winding up with me. Then they had to go their separate ways. My mom, a brilliant, absolutely genius, wise-beyond-her-years young woman, had begun a company, called Athena Architectural Corporation, or AAC for short. She wanted to improve and expand her company by devoting all her time to it, so she convinced my dad to take me because she felt she would have neglected me due to how busy she was dealing with her company. For example, perhaps she would forget to feed me, and would turn out to be a bad parent.

Unfortunately, I don't think my dad exactly wanted me. I mean, he took care of me, and all that, but he always seemed so distant. At first I thought that it was just his nature to be like that, but then he got married and he and my stepmom had two twins, Matthew and Bobby. Afterwards, I realized as I watched him shower his new sons with love, that he simply did not truly accept me as his child. He treated me more like a guest in my own house than his daughter. He provided me with all the physical things I needed - food, clothing, materials, a bed, a room, all of those necessities - and took care of me, but refused to give me the emotional support and love I longed for. His wife only made it worse. She treated me decently, I supposed, but not any kinder than she would treat a stranger she met at the grocery store.

So when I was old enough to contact my mother, I talked to her as much as possible. I emailed, texted, and called her regularly, and was even able to visit her a few times. She helped fill a little of that empty hole in my heart that my dad was supposed to fill but never did. However, most of the time she was too busy to spend a lot of quality with her only daughter; she didn't even have time to date! She was still single, still totally focused on the success of AAC, which, by the way, was now the biggest and most in-demand architectural company worldwide, having also developed several branches that specialized in certain fields - such as Dare Enterprises _(A/N: Recognize the name? Guess who else is going to turn up at Goode High?)_, which was the branch of AAC that mainly dealt with landscaping, building new malls and other different types of large public complexes.

But anyways, now I was making actually a lot of money (emphasis on A LOT), especially since last month I won the Grammy's Award for top female artist of this year or something, and I've only just turned sixteen. Of course, the world doesn't know my age, but that's irrelevant. I opened up a bank account of my own (my wonderful manager was able to legally get me an account, even though I'm only a teenager). And then guess what my lovely stepmother and father decided to do?

It was actually my stepmom's idea. That Sunday evening, before my family went on their "fun night" outing, she'd asked me how much money I was making and I answered truthfully, warily, wondering where this was going. My dad and stepmom were so happy to hear that I was making big money, since apparently after I finished high school they planned to retire and use most the money I made to buy a multi-million dollar home in Beverly Hills for themselves, and were going to remodel it, so they could move in when I left for college. It was going to be a huge mansion with a personal gym and spa and stuff. And they weren't going to even let me live there!

I told them it wasn't fair that they were going to use my money to pay for it, and my dad argued that I didn't even need the money so I might as well give it to my "lovely family that raised you and deserves to be repaid". I had actually been planning to donate a couple million to different nonprofit organizations that either helped people with disabilities or worked to preserve the environment and forests and endangered animals. The rest, I had been planning to save for later. I guess I could give some to my so-called "lovely family", but there was no way I was going to let them take all of the money I earned for themselves, without my permission.

"No," I said coolly.

My stepmother's eyes narrowed. "What did you say?"

"You heard me," I snapped.

My stepmom stepped forward and smacked me hard across the face. _So much for her treating me nicely, huh? _I flinched, but refused to cry out or even touch the place she had slapped.

"You ungrateful filthy little bitch!" she screamed. **(A/N: Please excuse the language, I promise I won't have excessive swearing in this story.)  
><strong>  
>"Annabeth, be reasonable. Stop acting like a selfish, spoiled brat," my father said calmly, as if everything was absolutely fine. I couldn't believe it. I knew my dad didn't exactly love me, but I never would have thought he would he would have coolly stood by while his wife insulted and hurt me.<p>

"We'll deal with the papers tomorrow," he continued. "All you have to do is sign them, and it will automatically transfer all of you money from now on to our bank account. We'll take care of the rest. You should be grateful. We're sparing you all the work. Please be cooperative, Annabeth, ok?"

I sighed, as if giving in. "K, fine," I muttered dully.

My dad beamed at me. "Good girl."

I kept my face impassive, but I was mentally strangling him. _"Good girl"? Really? What was I, a dog?_ But then I patted myself on the back for my excellent acting skills. I couldn't believe that he had actually believed me when I supposedly agreed to signing the stupid papers.

My father took my stepmom, Matthew and Bobby out for dinner and a movie, leaving me alone at home. Like always. Usually I'd converse with my mother or just hang out, but today, as soon as the car pulled out of the driveway, I got straight to work. I called my mother and asked if I could move in with her. After hearing about what my dad and stepmom wanted to do, Mom was outraged by the fact that they were trying to use me. She, being a self-made billionaire (in fact, she was #6 **(A/N: Athena has the sixth throne on Olympus, and her cabin at Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 6 – that's why I made her #6. Did anybody catch that?) **on _Forbes Magazine_'s list of the richest people in the world), knew what that felt like to have others attempt to cheat you out of your hard-earned fortune, so she agreed to have me move to New York to live with her.

My dad always kept a pile of flattened-out cardboard boxes in the garage. He was always one to collect items, and never get rid of any, even if they were useless, resulting in a very cluttered garage. I went down and grabbed about a bunch after hunting around for a bit, and packed up all my stuff, which was, sadly, very little. I've always been super organized, so it took a less than an hour to pack all the stuff I still wanted. I packed my teddy bear – the only stuffed animal I've ever owned, and it was from my mom - and all my bathroom supplies. I left all my clothes in the closet - I didn't wear them anymore. My entire customized wardrobe worth nearly a total of a hundred thousand dollars - _This was my stylist and manager's doing, not mine, jeez_! - was at the studio.

In total, I filled five boxes - two with all my personal stuff, minus the clothes - and three with all of my books. Well, not all of them. The only books I had in print were my favorite ones, mainly large hardcover volumes on Greek and Roman culture, mythology, and architecture. On the side, I had my big Kate Spade handbag, where I carefully packed my laptop and my Kindle Lightning **(A/N: I think that's what a futuristic Kindle would be called)**, where my library of about seven hundred books and counting were stored.

I took out my iComp, short for "iComputer", Apple's newest product yet. It's the size of a regular smartphone, but holds 128 GB and has the power of a laptop. **(A/N: No, it doesn't really exist - yet.)** My manager insisted I had the best technology, even if it was unnecessary - _"You're a celebrity! You have to have to be able to splurge and show off!" _Anyways, I checked the time. There was still a couple hours to go; my "family" probably just finished dinner and still had to go see the movie. I called my personal manager and told him how I was moving to New York City to live with the famous Athena Gray, **(A/N: couldn't think of a suitable name)**, my mother.

Surprisingly, he was very pleased and agreed immediately. Apparently, there was a lot better publicity and more opportunities in NYC, and so he told me that he would deal with buying a new studio building and getting everything moved over there, including my stylist and tutor. I smiled and thanked him profusely, promising to double his pay, which he refused, saying it was his job. He told me he'd come pick up my boxes and drop them off at the studio. While I waited for him to come, I lugged the boxes downstairs and set them by the door, them made myself a Nutella sandwich for dinner.

The next day, after my father dropped me off, I would board a personal jet plane and be flown to NY. Legally, we didn't need my father's permission, since actually by the law, my mother had always technically been my parent; she'd just given my dad temporary custody.

The next day, I was dropped off in NY and driven in a limo to my mom's awesome mansion in Queens, New York City. Within a week, my manager had sold the old building and bought a huge studio in Upper Manhattan that was even larger than the old one, but practically the same price. A month later, I was totally settled into the old routine, since my manager, stylist, and tutor all moved to NY as well. Thankfully, the paparazzi didn't find out the real reason I moved to New York City. When my father called, outraged, threatening to sue, I calmly told him to leave me and Mom alone, or next time I was being interviewed on a late night show, I might just let it slip that his wife slapped me. I even had the proof - a picture of my bruised, red cheek my stylist took before she expertly covered it up with makeup, trilling, _"Can't have the public see you with that! No, no, it would cause a scandal!"  
><em>  
>That shut my dad right up. He hasn't bothered us since. And you know what? I don't think he ever will.<p>

Everything was perfect. Until on Friday the 13th **(A/N: No, I'm not superstitious. My birthday was on Friday the 13th this year. But I just had to use that date. It was too tempting. I'm sorry.)**,_ it_ happened…**  
><strong>  
><strong>Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed it! Sorry if it was boring, it was supposed to be a clarifyingfiller chapter. Next chapter, things will start picking up! Thanks so much for reading! Don't worry, Percy will come into the story soon! Please review!**

**For the record, as to who I am… I am a person - well, I look just like the rest of you. (I'm assuming all of you that are reading this are mortal... If you're a satyr, you should be looking for more demigods! If you're a demigod - well, demigods never use technology! You should get to Camp Half-Blood - where mortal electronic devices are banned! (Except for cell phones, which can only be used for emergencies... And going on Fanfiction is not an emergency.) And if you're a god... with all due respect, what the Hades are you doing on Fanfiction? You must be really bored...**

**Back to the topic. I look like a regular human being, but I am actually an archetype of Annabeth. No, I don't look anything like her or a daughter of Athena. No, I am not close to ever being as intelligent as her. I am sort of like a mortal Annabeth - but not quite. If she dies, so do I. I'm not a demigod, or a human... Sort of a personification borne of Annabeth because of the mass knowledge of her existence. My soul is like a weaker, simpler, non-godly duplicate of hers - she does not know I exist, but I, obviously, know she does. I spend my days behaving as a regular human, worshipping her, the Greek gods, and the demigods - performing the noble art of leaving constructive criticism to Fanfiction stories that need improvement. Then I began my feeble attempts to write stories.**

**Because of the normality of cliché, over-used storylines, especially about Percabeth, I have decided to take on a personal challenge-to-self: writing my own version of these stories, and seeing how bad - or good - they end up. Hopefully, good. Now, I don't want you to take offense at what I said - I'm sure there are plenty of fantastic stories out there using the following basic plotlines. It's just that I've seen so many **_**bad**_** ones using these themes I just had to do this. Because this is my first story, I'm only using characters from the original Percy Jackson gang - before the Great Prophecy. Sorry to disappoint, but I don't want to overload the story with excess characters - it would ruin it. Some of my other stories I've planned will have either PJO people or HoO ones, or perhaps both, later on.**

**Here's my list of cliché plots (feel free to give me any suggestions, if you have any ideas!). All of the stories will star Percy and Annabeth, but will incorporate other important people. I will specify which group of characters are in it:**

**1. The whole **_**Annabeth-is-a-celebrity-and-she-meets-Percy-and-they-fall-in-love-and-live-happily-ever-after**_** dealio. This one is the ****original PJO gang****.**

**2. The common **_**reading-the-Percy-Jackson-books**_** thing. Sometimes, these get on my nerves (especially when everybody picks on Percy, Annabeth and Percy are uncharacteristically romantic - **_**yuck!**_**, Thalia turns all annoyingly bratty, Nico goes wacko, etc. Again, this does not apply to all of stories of this type - but to the majority, most unfortunately.) Again, ****original PJO people.******

**3. The totally overused **_**Annabeth-goes-to-Percy's-school-and-has-competition-for-Percy's-heart **_** idea. This one will focus on the ****HoO gang****.**

**4. The all-too-common **_**Karoake-Night-slash-contest**_** whatnot, where they sing and stuff. This one will have both ****PJO and HoO characters****!**

**Here are some discarded ideas of mine - I might eventually try them, but they're at the bottom of the list, because I know for sure I would suck at them:**

**1. Truth or Dare (I guess some are alright. Others... not so much. The idea is quite preposterous in itself, I think.)**

**2. The (usually) ridiculous whole **_**Athena-separates-Percabeth**_** plotline. It's just so stupid - hello, no direct interference from the gods! They can disapprove of the relationship, and can tell Percy and Annabeth that, but they couldn't possibly actually separate them - it violates basic immortal laws.**

**3. Lemons. Just... I don't even know what to say about them. Annabeth and Percy are really more into joking around and making each other laugh than doing intimate stuff.**

**Whao. That was one**_** long **_**Author's Note. If you read it all, you rock! Put **_**"The Stolls pranked us again! With spiders!"**_** in your review. Well, that's about all for now.**

**Until Next Time,  
>Annabeth - Athena's Daughter!<strong>


	2. Chapter 1: And Then That Happened

_Chapter 1: And then... That happened._

**Author's Note:**  
><strong>Hey! I apologize for the delay. I forgot to mention, the characters are not all related. In reality, demigods are all distantly related, of course, since the gods are all related, but none of the characters are in this story. At all. Except the Stoll brothers are obviously siblings. And of course all of the demigods are related to their respective parents, and all that. But apart from that, none of the characters are related, unless otherwise specified.<strong>

**Thank you to all of those who reviewed, Favorited, or put my Fanfic on Story Alert. I really appreciate the reviews – your input was helpful and inspiring. The results of the poll: Apollo is Annabeth's manager. Sorry if you're disappointed, but thanks to all of you who voted! And yes, _Minions of Myth_, I do share the same birthdate as you. A special shout-out to _AeonFirebrand_ and_ AtlantaJackson95_ (and everybody else who did) for reading the Prologue's whole A/N! And, by the way, the Stolls _attempted_ to prank our cabin with spiders. Did they succeed? No.**

**I've watched The Hunger Games twice! It was so funny - they did an excellent job of the Capitol! It would have been so cool to be an extra in the movie, so that you could get a crazy outfit and makeup and stuff! And, gods, I loved Effie Trinket (and her outfits)! She was ridiculously hilarious! Anyways, I thought it was really quite decent; I really enjoyed the movie. Except for a few parts I felt they could have done better, I loved it. Have you guys seen it? Team Gale or Team Peeta? I am totally Team Gale. He's a lot more like Percy - tall, with dark hair, and a rebellious streak too. Peeta sounds like he looks a bit like Luke...**

**By the way, I do not in any way encourage underage drinking. Nor do I suggest the U.S. government is corrupt - this is a completely fictional story. Once you read the chapter, you'll understand why I'm putting this out there.**

**_Recommendation:_ (Every chapter I will recommend an epic Fanfiction story. There are so many fantastic ones out there, but these are the ones that really resonated with me. Most of them will be one-shots or drabble collections, and usually not AU. Feel free to submit suggestions. Oh, and I'm sorry if the stories are deleted or the authors have changed their names.)**

**_This chapter: __"they made a statue of us"__ by technicolor-dreaming. It's fantastic - character anthology; defining them in six words. Concise, thoughtful, and sophisticated, each phrase speaks a lot more, deep down past the surface. Go check it out!_**

**Disclaimer ~ Any songs belong to their respective owners. In this fictional story, they belong to the artist "Annabeth Chase," but I do not create, own, or profit from any of the music that mentioned. This applies to the whole story, as does the PJO disclaimer (I'm not redoing it. See the prologue, if you're tempted to sue me). I also do not own _The Hunger Games_, either the books or the movie. Anything else mentioned (Wikipedia, Apple Co., Amazon Kindle, etc.) all belong to their personal holders.**

**On with the chapter!**

I scowled, groaning as I surveyed the long line of cars. And I thought San Francisco had bad traffic. That was one of the downsides of living in NYC. I was on my way to Luke's, a large mansion in Manhattan. It was his birthday, and I was heading over to my boyfriend's as an early surprise. We were going to go out for dinner, and I was supposed to be at his place by six, so that the paparazzi could get some good shots of us together. I personally hated this whole everybody-knows-about-you-and-your-boyfriend-and-your-relationship thing. It made me uncomfortable - what happened to privacy and personal space? I couldn't really do anything about it, though, so I would just steel myself and put on my best smile - a simple, effective mask of indifference to the fact that so many people were watching my every move.

Indeed, I was only just-turned sixteen - but still a responsible driver. The public and other fellow celebrities assumed I was in my early twenties, like Luke (he turned twenty-three today). Yes, I was "dating" a guy seven years older than me. Got a problem with that?

Whenever I went out, and dined with others, I would order a glass of wine - but would simply "sip" it, just barely drinking any. In fact, I never finished the glass - after an entire night, I would still have about three-quarters left. So, yes, I broke the law. Then why did the government turn a blind eye? Because of the fact that not only do I donate millions to environmental and social-issue charities worldwide (what else would I do with all that money? All those with excess wealth should definitely be philanthropists), but my mother donates almost a billion dollars to the U.S. government. Per year. I donate to a lot of nonprofit cancer organizations, especially lung cancer groups, because… Well, that's a story for later. Back to the topic.

So, as you know, I'm sixteen, but whenever you see posters or pictures or whatever of me, I myself even think I look old. You'd be surprised how different make-up can cause one to look. It's like, you put some funny-smelling whatnot on your face, and then - BOOM! - you look like somebody else. Ever since I became a serious artist - when singing became my profession, my career, my life, not just a hobby - my personal stylist did a fantastic job. Nobody really important knew of my true looks or age - before my first performance in public, I had already adopted a new look. I was surprised that at my old middle school, nobody said a word - had they all forgotten that I was in their grade, at their age? Apparently, somehow, yes. Don't ask - I have no idea how their minds work. Of course, I now have a private tutor, since attending a high school, being the celebrity I am, wouldn't be a very smart move.

These days, I didn't go in public without my stylist having worked her magic on me - she actually came to my house every morning to choose my outfit, and I'd go to the studio, while she went to school. After-school, she came to the studio. She was our neighbor - but had to drive here, because my mom has such a large yard and house.

Ever since I moved in with Mom, I had an unnecessarily large bedroom with a full walk-in closet. Only a portion of my huge wardrobe fit in there - the rest went into the newly-remodeled room next door, which was now just a huge closet. Totally unneeded, in my opinion. What am I supposed to do with all these dumb clothes, anyway? Eat them? How the heck was I supposed to wear so many different outfits?

Silena Beauregard was my stylist. Nobody else would hire her, since she's only 16 - a couple months older than me. In a few weeks, summer vacation would start, and she would be finished with 10th grade. Other female celebrities scorned her, sneering about how an inexperienced teenager couldn't possibly choose decent outfits. I hated them - always looking down on anybody who wasn't old enough to drink legally. If they knew my real age, they would hate me too. Silena was one of the few people who knew my true age - besides my dad's family (who wouldn't tell, because they knew I would get back at them if they did) and old classmates (who evidently had forgotten me), only Mom (and her two house-servants), my tutor, manager, and Silena knew. She was pretty much my only actual friend that was my age - sure, Luke and I were dating, but honestly, it was just for the show. I disliked the relationship - it was so fake, and when we were alone together, the awkwardness was tangible. We were always so close together - yet inside, so distant. No, we had not even gotten close to doing...it. The kisses and experimental touches only occurred away from home. Oh, the irony. Most couples probably preferred to be intimate in privacy. Luke and I would be decently affectionate when we were public, to at least make it seem we were totally in love (snorts derisively to self), but didn't even hold hands when we were hanging out at his house. (My mother didn't approve of him, so he rarely came over to my place - all the better. I was quite grateful that my mother thought he was arrogant, egotistical, and a bad influence.)

Anyways, Silena's mother was Belle Aphrodite** (A/N: "Belle" means "beautiful" in French, and French, as you probably already know, happens to be the language of love)**, only the most famous supermodel worldwide. She was a model for Clinique and Lancôme, as well as for many luxury clothing and accessory brands. She was rarely home - Silena lived with her father most of the time.

A brief outline on my daily make-up: My hair was straightened. Every single darn day. My curly blonde hair supposedly was a stereotypical teenager hairdo, so straightened hair looked appropriately chic and aristocratic. Dumb, I know. And sometimes, if I was getting ready for a performance or party, I had to shower and re-do my hair. Well, Silena would re-do my hair for me. She actually loved make-up and clothing and all that variety of girly material. Before, they had wanted to dye my hair reddish-brown-mahagony-ish, but I put my foot down and said absolutely _not_. No way am I going to turn my hair into the color of wood. So they compromised with me - my hair would remain blonde, but I had to agree to straighten it. Also, I never wore any lip gloss - instead, bright red lipstick. I thought it made my lips look like they were bleeding, but apparently they give me an elegant, sophisticated touch that makes me appear older. At least, Silena said so. Light eye makeup complimented my gray eyes, which were widely considered my most distinct facial feature - I'm going by what Silena said! - and then other facial stuff - foundation and blush and powdery funk - to make my face have shadowy areas, giving it a more angular look, resulting in an appearance of at least twenty. In general, I couldn't recognize myself when I'm looking in the mirror. **(A/N: Makes me think of that song from the movie _Mulan_, called "Reflection," you know? I only realized that as I wrote that sentence...)**

It was a little past noon, according to my iComp. I glanced at the date at the top: Friday, May 13. I was going to surprise him with an early visit - I knew he always stayed home on Wednesdays, since his movie is filmed in the early hours of the morning on the weekdays. He always complained about how he hated rising before the sun did.

I sighed, banging my head against the headrest. I took out my iComp again, and went on Wikipedia. I chuckled to myself - currently, the article on me said I was 29, and I was dealing in drugs and had eating disorders. In addition, my birthday was on Halloween, and my parents adopted me from Italy **(A/N: Obviously, she's not from Italy. For those of you who remember, Rome is in Italy, and she's a Greek demigod - hence, her ancestry lies in Ancient Greece, probably the city-state of Athens. Did anybody make that connection? And no, she's not adopted from Greece in this story - she's just a normal American-born citizen, formerly from San Francisco)**.

After extensive cursing, I finally made it to Luke's place. It was a quarter to one. I hurried to his front entrance, and knocked. His butler, Mr. Nakamura, opened the double doors. When he saw me, he said quietly, "Ms. Chase. I have orders from Mr. Castellan not to allow anybody in - including you - earlier than five o'clock this evening."

I frowned. "Oh." Huh. That was odd, unexpected, puzzling. "I'll just... go then," I said hastily. "Thank you." I pivoted around and began walking down the steps.

"Wait! Ms. Chase. I - I think you should go come in."

I turned, confused. "You just said..."

"Yes, Ms. Chase. Those were his orders - but I think I should not follow them. It is alright if I lose my job - after all, I am about to retire. I do not feel it is fair to you to keep you in the dark like so. You ought to know what is going on, behind your back."

I felt a sinking feeling in my chest, and for a split second I considered just leaving. Whatever Luke was secretly doing, it didn't sound good. Maybe I didn't need to know about what was happening. And after all, ignorance was bliss...right?

No. Curiosity killed the cat, and in this case, the cat happened to be a girl by the name of Annabeth. There was nothing to be afraid of. Why would I turn and flee, like a wimpy coward? And of course, I was too proud to refuse. Stupid pride. It's like my fatal flaw, really.

I nodded briefly. "Thank you, Mr. Nakamura." I briskly walked - marched, really, like a soldier heading into battle for a suicide mission - into the house, approaching my impending doom.

I walked into the front room. Luke's house, I had to say, was large and disorganized. I greatly disapproved of the architectural design. I was about to call Luke's name when I heard a voice upstairs. No; voices, quietly conversing. A chuckling, deep male voice - probably Luke's - and...a seductive, purring female voice.

My body moved without my help - like a robot, I started awkwardly climbing the spiral staircase. Standing stiffly, I tightened my grip on the wooden railing of the steps. Yes, I could distinctly make out the voices now. Desperate to prove to myself whatever was going on in Luke's room wasn't what it seemed, I raced upwards and tip-toed to his bedroom door. I stood lightly on my feet and tried the doorknob. It was locked. The talking inside stopped immediately – silence. I studied the lock. It was a worn-down traditional old-fashioned style one, and when a key was inserted it would click by pushing the grooves inside the keyhole, which corresponded to the bolt that locked the door. I reasoned if I could manage to use something to apply pressure to the right grooves, I could undo the lock. Hey, I wasn't a thief. This wasn't like me to do something like this, but my current situation surely counted as an exception. I had never picked a lock before, but hey, how hard could it really be?

I took out a hairpin from my messy bun. (Can you believe Silena made it a careless and disheveled hairdo on purpose? She said the wispy loose bangs framed my face. I don't try to understand fashion.) Anyways, I carefully inserted the pin into the keyhole and tried a couple experimental twists while pressing on the grooves. Judging by the shape of the lock and the previous times I had glimpsed the key, it would have… four – no, five – simple protruding wedges, of varying sizes. A slight swivel to the right – keep pressing – and… Success! The voices inside stopped and I opened the door and closed it behind me, blocking the escape of the young woman and Luke. Both were naked – well, not so much for Luke, as he was desperately shoving on clothes (his shirt was backwards and inside out). His…companion was using the blanket to cover herself, her face flushed.

Neither would make eye contact with me. Luke got up and took her hand (she was using the blanket as a make-shift dress, wrapping it around her body), walking her to the door. "Excuse us," she said. The nerve of that…that female. "I'd better get going."

I stepped to the side. "You can go," I jerked my chin in her direction. "Luke, stay," I added as he endeavored to make a clean getaway.

"I – I'll walk Kelli to the door," he muttered. Always the gentleman, wasn't he?

"I'm sure Kelli can find her way on her own. From the looks of it, she's spent plenty of time here."

She left quietly and I moved in front of the door again. "So, busted, are we." I impressed myself with my ability to maintain such a calm facade – as if I couldn't care less what he was doing, or had been expecting it all along. Actually, I felt hurt beyond words. Surely this was just a nightmare and I would wake up any moment now, snug in my bed. But no. Yeah, Luke and I weren't more than a small fling, but I had thought he would have had the decency to at least break up with me. Him cheating on me felt like an enormous betrayal, and I felt so injured by how he had only gone out with me to gain greater publicity, it seemed. My manager had insisted I date somebody, yet another way to fool the wider public and conceal my age. And no, Luke didn't know I was a newly sixteen-year-old. Like I said, we had a very minimal relationship._ That's it. I am not going to like any more guys, at least until I'm done with college,_ I vowed mentally. _I have much more important things to worry about than boys._

"I obviously wasn't good enough for you. I thought we had a mutual affectionate relationship, but I was wrong," I added. "So, care to explain?"

He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I cheated on you,'kay? Kelli means nothing to me. I just wanted to have a little fun. It's no big deal. Seriously, Annabeth. Grow up a bit. I shag girls if I want to. You're making such a fuss over everything."

"No, it's not _okay_. You only wanted me for the physical contact. I was supposed to be your girlfriend. I'm guessing I was a very unsatisfactory sex toy, so you used _her_ instead. This is over – and yes, I'm breaking up with you. You're not dumping me, so don't lie to the paparazzi, like you no doubt usually do. I'm over you, so right here, right now, _I'm dumping you_."

And with that, I turned my back on Luke's stunned face, striding briskly out of the room, exiting that grotesque house (after giving Mr. Nakamura a grateful nod) and just getting away from all of the lies and pain and useless relationships.

* * *

><p><em>Great. More New York City traffic. Yippee<em>, I thought dryly as I, yet again, got stuck in traffic on the way back home. First, I called Mr. Apollo Eli Helio **(A/N: Both "Helio" and "Eli/Elio" mean "sun")** to inform him of the recent events, so he would tell the world I broke up with Luke Castellan. Then I leaned back, resting my head comfortably on the seat rest. My car wasn't an expensive luxury car brand and I didn't go around in a limo all day long – only to performances and stuff. I mean, why would I? Having a fancy car isn't as great as it seems – all that talk about showing off vehicles is _so_ overrated. Besides, could you be any more conspicuous? The last thing I needed was to be more noticeable. Normally, I had a casual, normal four-car sedan with tinted windows, and wore sunglasses to cover up my gray eyes. Anyway, they were necessary precautions – after all, it's better to be safe than sorry. Memories began swirling through my mind as I reviewed what just happened. I recalled the day I met Luke, a little over a year ago…

_~Flashback~_

I glanced around the room. This was basically a casting, planning, and formatting meeting for _The Hunger Games_ movie. I was there – not because I was being considered to play any of the characters, but since the producers wanted me to present a song I wrote to be used in the movie. The only acting I did was for my music videos** (A/N: Which are totally different from the real music videos for the songs mentioned in this fictional story, just for clarification)**. I didn't really want to be in any movies – I was much too busy for that, and I just wasn't comfortable with people everywhere knowing my normal voice. They already knew my singing voice, which was already an intrusion of privacy. Call me selfish, but sometimes I wished I never got into this whole celebrity-singer deal. It was like I was robbed of myself and my right to make my own decisions – it all always my manager and making money and getting more fame. Think of it this way – if you're a nobody, at least you aren't judged by everybody in the whole world, and you can sing whatever you want and do whatever you want, and it's totally fine. But me – singing isn't a pleasure for me, it's a burden. I mean, writing songs and performing them is awesome and all, but now it's something I do because I _have_ to, not because I _want_ to.

But I went up the microphone that was set up there, grabbing my guitar, since I was to play a short verse, just to give them an idea of the piece of music. **(A/N: And no, hate to disappoint, but Annabeth is not Taylor Swift in disguise, neither in this story or in reality.)**

I coughed awkwardly. "This song is called _"Safe and Sound"_ and features _The Civil Wars_ – who aren't here today, but they'll be there for the studio recording." I began playing the simple, sad melody. _"I remember tears streaming down your face…"_ It reminded me of a lullaby somebody would play if a loved one was passing away – singing them to sleep for eternity. I concluded the short excerpt with _"Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound…"_

Several celebrities applauded, including Luke, who winked at me. I smiled slightly and sat back down. Luke was being considered as the actor for Peeta, but finally they chose Joshua Hutcherson. Oh, well. I couldn't care less. Luke refused the offer to play the role of Cato, since he's going to be starring in the sequel to a movie he acted in two years ago. (Did that make sense?) Anyways, afterwards there was a celebration party. As I approached the table with the hors d'oeuvres, out of the corner of my eye I spotted Luke heading towards me. Since he was at an approximately 65° degree angle to the right of me, using the table as the axis, our paths would intersect a couple feet from the table. I was nervous, obviously, because Luke was, admittedly, very good-looking, and charming to an extent. But the real reason was because Apollo told me I should date somebody, because others would be suspicious if I – the newest celebrity – was single, especially since it was a widely-known rumor that Luke had a thing for me.

Shoot. Here he was. "Hey, Annabeth," he casually said.

I glanced towards him. He was grinning at me, his blue eyes bright and playful, and running his fingers through his sandy hair. According to the latest volume of _Seventeen _(Silena gets lots of magazines, mainly for the beauty tips, while I just like taking the quizzes), he had broken up with his former girlfriend quite a few weeks ago, and was now currently single.

He put a hand on my shoulder. "Wanna go grab a drink?"

Like I had a choice. It would be totally impolite to refuse, wouldn't it? I shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure, why not?" He guided me towards the fancy drink booth. The bartender bowed his head slightly. "I'll get a Buchanan's Negra." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Celebrities and their fancy cocktails. This was a combination of Buchanan's smooth-blended expensive twenty-five-year-aged Scotch Whiskey and cola. Honestly, who in their right mind would drink something that was a quarter of a century old? The bartender expertly grabbed a delicate, detailed glass, added some ice, and whipped up the drink. Luke nodded, grabbing it over the counter. "Thanks."

The bartender glanced at me. "Um, just give me a coke." He nodded and filled up a large glass, handing it over. "Thank you."

Luke chuckled slightly. "Why so hesitant, Annabeth? You aren't performing tonight, are you? Or a lightweight?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't get easily drunk – just not in the mood." I took a large sip so I wouldn't have to keep talking to him. I don't think he got the hint.

"Nice song, by the way." I tried to keep my face impassive, but I must've blushed slightly at the compliment. "Thanks," I muttered, studying the water droplets condensing on the outside of the glass. "It sucks you didn't get the role, I thought you would have made a good Peeta."

"Eh, it's ok. What's done is done, it doesn't matter anymore," Luke said good-naturedly. He took another swig of his drink.

I began walking over to a chair and he did too, sitting down in the one beside me. "Wow, I didn't think you of all people would be so shy," he joked.

"I'm not shy – I'm just thinking," I replied.

"About what?"

"About what it will take to end this conversation."

"Ouch, that hurt," Luke said, putting a hand over his heart in mock-pain. "Wow, you got sharp claws, kitty."

"If I'm the kitty, you're the toy mouse I'm going to scratch to pieces." Yeah, I have terrible comebacks. Usually I can think of much wittier ones. Today was _really_ not my day.

"Oh, so you want to play with me, huh?" I rolled my eyes, smiling slightly. And thus, we began our tentative friendship. You could consider us moderate associates, but I never really thought of him _that_ way, so when he dropped the bomb, I was stunned. Yeah, we shared numbers, and went on dates-that-really-didn't-count-as-dates, but still…

This was a month later, and we were hanging out. "Hey Annabeth, you gonna kiss me anytime?"

I stared at him. "Patience is a virtue, you know." _Whew. Nice save,_ I complimented myself.

But that night as I left, I kissed him quickly – a small peck that lasted a split second. Innocent and sweet, nothing really. But then it sort of just evolved into a real relationship. Of course, it didn't help when the paparazzi found out. But when we became real boyfriend-and-girlfriend, instead of becoming even closer, we started drawing apart, leading to our awkward relationship. Of course, it all fell apart today.

* * *

><p>It was the end of June. By now, Luke had stopped sending me apology texts or pleading phone calls. In fact, he had gotten a new girlfriend. All the better. In my latest album, several songs were about Luke, including <em>"Picture to Burn," "Stronger,"<em> and_ "You're Not Sorry_._"_ The thing was, I didn't miss Luke, but I missed company. My only friend even close to my age was Silena, but she went to school, so she was only around either when she came over or went to the studio with me (I no longer spent all day at the studio, since I lived with my mom). And as much as I loved Silena, I longed for more friends. Still, I had Mr. Chiron Brunner, my private tutor, and Apollo, my manager, and my mom, who had a complex relationship with me. She behaved like my older sister, always offering sensible, intelligent and prudent advice and encouragement, but she was often preoccupied and immersed with work.

Chiron was a fantastic tutor. Apparently I had an aptitude for Greek, so he had taught me to a high level. Also, I had a talent for designing buildings. He once told me I inherited my mother's intellect, which was probably the best compliment I could ever get from anybody. The thing was, I liked singing and all, but what I really loved was knowledge, and I wanted to pursue a career in architecture, my favorite subject. He had been teaching me mostly above my grade's academic level – I was taking advanced studies for my age, having just completed what you could call my "sophomore year." Right now, I was on my summer break – Chiron gave me a six-week-long vacation period from the middle of June to the end of July.

My mom's butler-manservant-person was Whinos Dionysus. He seemed grouchy, mean, and addicted to alcohol, but was actually extremely soft-hearted and kind, and didn't get easily drunk, anyway. His wife, Ariadne Dionysus, was my mom's maid-cook-secretary-lady, and she was really sweet. They were a perfect couple (strange, really). I walked into the kitchen (there was a large table there), where they were sitting. Ariadne was watching the slow-cooking stew as she read a novel, and Mr. D (he only lets me call him that) was reading a wine magazine. He grunted as I entered.

"Annabeth, we went to the theater and watched _The Hunger Games_," Ariadne told me, beaming. "Your song was during the credits, and it was fantastic. It fit perfectly with the movie."

I had watched the movie at the midnight premier. Everybody was so dressed up as characters, I didn't stand out, and nobody recognized me. (I was decked out in a "District 1 Tribute" costume. Yeah, I know Glimmer was a pretty despicable character, but the only other blonde mentioned was Prim, and I didn't want to dress up as her.)

I smiled back. "Thanks, Ariadne." Turning towards Mr. D, I raised my eyebrows. "So…what did you think about it?"

"Hmph. It was alright. I dislike all this "Team-Peeta-or-Team-Gale" nonsense, though. I'm Team Haymitch." I stifled a giggle. Mr. D's disposition was a bit like a nicer-and-less-drunk Haymitch.

Ariadne laughed. "I'm Team Buttercup." Of course. She had quite a fondness for cats. I always thought they were quite intelligent animals - independent and able to take care of themselves, with a grace in their gait most other creatures couldn't match.

Mr. D looked up from his magazine. "Chiron's wants you to see him. He's coming over at four."

"Oh, thanks." I took a quick look at the clock – it was a couple minutes past four. "I've got to go. Thanks again." They bid their farewells and I hurried down the hallway to the big room at the head of the house.

Chiron was sitting, talking with my mom. She was teary-eyed and thanked him as he stood up, giving him a hug. "Best of luck to you and Antonietta," Mom said. What was this all about?

She walked over to me. "Annabeth, I'll be in my office, if you need me. Chiron needs to tell you something." She smiled, putting her hand on my cheek, then headed up the elevator to the sixth floor **(A/N: Cabin 6, so the 6th floor)**, which was basically entirely hers. It included her bedroom, office, etc. Our house had 6 floors, plus an attic, which I hung out in often. It was quiet and nice up there, although it got a bit stuffy sometimes.

I walked over to Chiron and sat down on the couch next to him. "Annabeth, dear. I have a bit of news."

I frowned. "What is it?" I asked anxiously.

He exhaled. "Well, as you know, Antonietta has been fighting her cancer for a while. The treatments have showed signs of improvement, but…"

I panicked. "Is she alright?" Chiron had a wife, Antonietta, but no children. Since Antonietta had lung cancer, they didn't want their children to inherit it genetically as she did, and never adopted. Her father (who had passed away at age forty-five) had smoked, and she had developed the disease from him. Although I didn't know her very well, from the few times we had met, she had seemed like such a good person, which was why I mainly donated to lung cancer organizations.

Chiron nodded. "She's fine. However, New York City is not a good place for her – it's so full of people, with plenty of smog and pollution, and the weather is humid and hot during summer and cold during winter. She's to be transferred to a lung treatment center in Southern France, one of the best worldwide. It is highly recommended – the pristine countryside and fresh air will do her a lot of good. If she stays here, she is predicted to live a couple years or so, but if we move there, it's probable Antonietta will live at least fifteen to twenty years."

He waited as I processed all this. "So… You're moving to Southern France?" I said softly.

Chiron smiled sadly. "Yes, child. The plane leaves tomorrow. We've known for a while, but I didn't want to tell you until the last day. You would have been worried and unfocused if I had told you before."

Tears prickled at the corners of my eyes. Chiron was the wisest person I knew, apart from my mom. I respected all the choices he made. I knew it was for Antonietta's good, and that I was being selfish, but Chiron was the one person I could always rely on, a dear friend and counselor, as well as a brilliant personal tutor. What would I do without him?

"Cheer up, child. We must embrace the changes in life and the opportunities they provide us with. Now, I want you to take this opportunity and live a real life. You are lonely now that Luke is gone, correct? Of course, you don't want to admit it, but it is true. I've talked with Silena – you'll be attending Goode High next year with her, as a junior. I'm assuming you want to?"

_What?_ Goode High was a prestigious private college-preparatory academy for exceptional students, and was only about fifteen minutes away from my house. Plus, it had other students there…who were all my age. And I could go there… "Yes, of course! But – but what about…"

"Silena will attend to your make-up and outfits. You'll go under the pseudonym of "Anne Chaneys." I've insured you'll take Physical Education, Honors World History II, American Literature (English 2), and Chemistry with Silena. I have talked with the school and filled several vouch forms, as well as turning in some of your final tests I've given you, so your classes will be appropriate for your level of knowledge. For mathematics, you'll be taking Calculus 2, so next year you can take AP Statistics. Also, you're enrolled in AP Greek Language and Culture, a senior class, but I'm sure it'll be no problem for you. For your other elective, you'll be in an Architecture class that uses both Computer Designing and drawing by hand. They had to know your elective choices immediately, so I chose what I thought you would like."

Did I ever mention I love Chiron?

We kept talking for a couple hours, and finally, he had to go. He handed me a folder that had all of the needed papers and forms. Reaching into his bag, he took out a chunky volume. "I'm sure you'll find this book very interesting. It's a gift – to thank you for being such a diligent pupil and a fond child."

I carefully took the book and gasped. It was a complete analyzation of Greek and Roman architecture, mythology, culture, and life. "Chiron, I – I don't know what to say. This is incredible! I should've gotten you something…"

He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "No need, Annabeth. Tutoring you has been a gift in itself." I flipped the hard front cover of the book. It was like the most epic textbook ever created – at least eight hundred pages, I estimated, or more. On the first page, the blank white one, was a letter Chiron wrote to me. It was long (it went to the back of the page as well) and written in his elegant, sloping, nearly-cursive-but-not-quite font.

I closed the book. "I'll read it later."

He smiled. "Actually, you're not allowed to read it until Silena says you can. She'll know when it's time. So no reading the letter until Silena says so."

I wondered what the letter said – but if Chiron didn't want me to read it yet, I would abide by his wishes. "Sure, Chiron. I'll wait until Silena says it's ok. And thank you, Chiron – for everything." We embraced, and I felt tears run down my cheeks. Let me get this straight – I was no pitiful weakling or a pathetic crybaby or anything of that sort, so naturally, I never cried. But Chiron had been like the father I had never really had, and I would miss him dearly.

He left. The next day, my entire makeshift family (Mom, Silena, Apollo, Mr. D, and Ariadne) all came to see Chiron off – everybody was fond of him, even Mr. D, Chiron's pinochle buddy. It was impossible, really, to not like Chiron. I'd miss his comforting, relaxing presence and his soothing, tranquil voice which always spoke such judicious, astute words.

But I remembered what Chiron said, about appreciating change and this new change at life I was being presented with. _Don't worry, _I thought._ Going to Goode is my opportunity, Chiron. I'll use it well and make you proud._

And despite my sadness, as I gazed at the plane taking off for France, the sky had never seemed bluer, and the sun had never seemed brighter.

**Author's Note: To those of you who ship Thuke instead of Thalico, I'm sorry about this story. There's going to be minor Thalico at the beginning, but lots as the story progresses. However, if you read the Prologue's A/N, you'll see I'm planning to write many more stories, and I promise at least one or two of them will contain mild-to-moderate-to-major Thuke.**

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**

**That's All for Now,**

**Annabeth - Athena's Daughter**


	3. Chapter 2: Interesting First Impressions

CLMCLMN Ch. 3

_Interesting First Impressions_

**Author's Note: Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate the encouraging reviews. There was an overwhelming majority agreement as to the glasses vs. contacts question – almost everybody everybody voted glasses. I guess I'm not the only one who's tired of contacts, huh? So, here's the deal, guys: I've chosen glasses, but not the tinted kind that darkens in the sun. (I think they're called Transitions® Lenses…) I've changed my mind – after a bit of research, I've concluded they're unnecessary. Besides, we still want Percy to be able to notice those intimidating (yet pretty!) eyes of hers, no?**

**_Recommendation: "_****_Penelope Waiting_****_" _****by****_ icy roses. _****I don't even know what I can say to do this drabble justice. I can't explain it – ****_icy roses _****is a master of emotion and language. Just do yourself a favor and read it – if you don't, you're missing out. Anybody who can't wait for ****The Mark of Athena**** to come out should definitely read this one – heck, even if you've never even heard of Annabeth Chase, you should read it. Period.**

**Thanks to all of those who put me on their Favorites, Story Alert list, or reviewed! ****_Minions of Myth_****, I appreciate your PM. I'm glad you get the idea of the whole glasses thing! A big thanks to ****_Lmb111514_****, ****_DarkWint3rDream_****, and ****_AeonFirebrand_**** (glad you liked the recommendation!) ****_Gacbravepromise_****: My gratitude to you for your comments and for PM'ing me your idea. It's interesting, but I'm afraid I won't use it. But thanks anyways! A shout-out to ****_Cerulean Apocalypse_****, for the long, thoughtful review. I was considering doing one of those Thalia-ditches-the-Hunt stories, but I decided I'd first tackle the many overused Percabeth plotlines, then move onto other cliché story ideas. And I agree with what you're saying – that writing Fanfics in which the demigods ****_aren't_**** demigods does make alterations to their dispositions necessary, since being in a situation like this changes them (which I think may be why so many of these stories ends up with the characters acting totally OOC). But I feel that just because stories are AU doesn't excuse the characters having their personalities being changed beyond recognition. Why not just write an original story instead, if you're going to write a Fanfic in which their personalities have been turned so out of character, their names are practically the only thing they have in common with the Rick Riordan characters they're supposed to be based off? (Did that last sentence make any sense at all?) Part of the reason I was inspired to start this personal writing challenge for myself was so that I could prove to not only others, but myself as well, that it's possible to write an AU story in which Percy and Annabeth still, to an extent, retain their personalities, and behave and think relatively like themselves - at least as much as is possible in the story scenario they are in. **

**I'll stop my petty rambling now. This isn't my best chapter – I hope you all aren't too disappointed with it. It's sort of a filler. I tweaked it several times, but couldn't get it right. Oh, well.**

These days, I was totally transformed. I had already finished going on tour after my latest album came out earlier this summer, so I could take a slight break from the singing business. I was planning on releasing a couple singles, so I was working on drafting a new song – actually, I was halfway done. I usually plan out the melody, and then add in the lyrics, but I couldn't nail the right words for the song yet. At least I had gotten the tune down, though, which I usually found the most challenging part of the process. I hated procrastinating – that's why I always start writing my music way before my deadline, so I can go back and alter it as I see fit until I've satisfied my perfectionist-syndrome. I leave myself enough leeway so that if necessary, I can even start from scratch and write a new melody line.

More importantly, though, I had gotten used to my life as "Anne Chaneys." My life as a semi-normal person had now settled down. These days, whenever I headed out, nobody mobbed me. It was an… interesting experience, to say the least. I was always a bit paranoid that somebody would recognize me, but nobody did, thanks to my brilliant disguise, courtesy of Silena. We had gone shopping together for normal clothes, and I had a decent-sized supply of not-crazy-celebrity-super-expensive clothing. Yay me!

Saturday morning, August 18th, 9:36 AM. Yes, being the lazy person I am, I slept in. Shame on me, I know. But school was starting in four days, so I cut myself some slack. I got dressed in the casual clothes Silena had chosen for me earlier and put on my glasses. Yes, you heard me right. Glasses. And no, not those ridiculous giant nerdy ones with the thick glass and tape in the middle. (People sometimes wear plastic versions of them as fashion statements. Crazy, I know. Although Silena says they look pretty good on some people.)

But no, they're just nice, regular glasses anybody would wear if they had mild eyesight impairment. Of course, mine have plain polycarbonate lenses with no extra curve – they have no power, since I have 20/20 eyesight and don't actually need glasses for what they're usually used for. These glasses are the genius in my cover-up – they cover my eyes, and those were most likely to give me away. I mean, since I always used to have to straighten my hair whenever I was in public – it was part of the Annabeth look – I could just leave it in a ponytail, curly as can be, and that was it. No fuss. But my eyes… I didn't want to wear contacts (statistics show that it's much more likely to get eye damage wearing contact lenses, which could infect your eye, than glasses. Of course, the risk was very low, but still.)

I know that doesn't seem to make sense – if the glasses are clear, people will see your eyes anyways, right? Well – yes. And no. The human brain is a weird thing with a very interesting way of interpreting information input from the senses. I don't know the details, but what I do know is that glasses can shield your irises very well because it's like hiding in plain sight. Ok, here's an example. Say you had an enormous zit on your cheek. It would stand out and look ugly and embarrassing and everybody would notice it whenever they looked at you. But say you got a giant scar on your face – then their attention would subconsciously be drawn to the scar and not to your zit. I guarantee they'll barely notice even notice it on your cheek anymore. Same thing with glasses - the bright color of the frames draws your focus away from the eyes themselves. So you wouldn't focus on the eyes, unless you consciously willed yourself to do so. So the brighter the frames of the glasses, the better. I chose orange, since Silena wanted me to use a warm, sunny color. So now I have these orange glasses with no prescription and rectangular frames.

I was planning to relax today, so I put my hair into a quick bun and carefully cleaned my glasses before donning them. I crossed the room to my nightstand and pressed the ON button on my iComp, waiting for it to load. I had 10 messages from Silena telling me to call her! I dialed her number and she picked up on her first ring.

"Hey, Annabeth! We're going to a party at the park, so I'm gonna come pick you up, k?"

"Wow, Silena, way to give notice ahead of time about a party. What party is it anyway?"

"I'll tell you when I get there. We have to hurry, or we'll be late! Rachel's bringing Percy at eleven-thirty!"

"Um…ok? Wait, you're coming over?" _Percy? What kind of name was that?_

"I'm getting into the car right now. You are free today, right?"

"…I had been hoping to get some reading done…"

"_Annabeth!_ Reading can wait. We can go together in my car. I gotta go, I'll be there in a sec!" She hung up.

I knew better than to refuse to go to the party with Silena. And, after all, books could wait. I was curious to see what her school friends were like…

* * *

><p>"Silena, why do I have to go? I don't even know this guy. Isn't it rude for me to show up uninvited to his birthday party?"<p>

She shook her head. "Percy's already had his birthday party last Saturday - but today it's his actual birthday so we're surprising him at the park with food."

That made me feel a little better, but I was still far from convinced. I glanced down at the boxes of pizza in my hands, their warmth seeping through my jeans into my thighs. We had stopped at the local pizzeria since the party was supposed to be a potluck-type thing – everybody would bring a food or drink or eating utensils.

We luckily found a parking spot not too far from Central Park. Silena pulled up, parked, then quickly inspected her reflection in the little mirror on the side of the car. Satisfied, she beamed at me. "I can't wait for you to meet everybody! Trust me, they'll _love_ you! Here, let me take the pizza."

I followed her into the park, glancing at my surroundings. Silena led me to a clearing to the side occupied by a couple of those wooden picnic table, like the ones you see in parks, complete with bird droppings splattered in various places. "This is where we meet whenever we come to the park. But most of the time we hang out at school or Rachel's place," she explained.

A small cluster of teenagers were sitting at one of the tables that wasn't bombed with pigeon poop, and one of them waved at her. "Silena! We thought you wouldn't make it in time. They're on their way."

Silena set down the pizza at another clean (of bird feces) table, next to a couple 2-liters of Cherry Coke, a container of ice, chips, crackers, and several long stalks of…celery. There were little mini-sandwiches too – peanut butter, jelly, nutella, honey, lettuce, roast beef, and ham, it looked like. They were a bit lopsided – it was obvious the sandwiches weren't made by professional hands – but as long as whoever made them had washed their hands before building them, I was alright with it. Silena grabbed my hand and led me to them. They were chatting amongst themselves, but they all quieted down when they noticed me.

Silena introduced me to the group. "Guys, this is Anna – Anne. Just Anne. She's transferring to Goode."

I waved slightly. I was really nervous – partially because they were the first teenagers I was actually directly interacting with (beside Silena) in two years, and also because I was afraid they would recognize me. The Rasta-cap dude grinned. "I'm Grover." To Silena he added, "Beckendorf and Katie couldn't make it."

Silena looked disappointed. "Beckendorf couldn't come? Oh." She smiled, instantly recovering her default happy face. Gesturing to each person, she said, "This is Juniper, Nico, Clarisse, Chris, and Thalia." Juniper smiled at me, Chris said hi, and the other three nodded at me.

Grover, told us, "Rachel's bringing Percy - we're gonna surprise him. And she's bringing the cake."

Silena sat down and I took a seat next to her, at the very end of the bench. I glanced around the group. They seemed alright - a couple of them looked a bit weird, but at least they were unique, right? At least none of them seemed angry at me for coming without prior notice. The last thing I needed was an upsetting confrontation - I needed to make a good first-impression if I was going to survive attending Goode.

Juniper, the short girl sitting next to Grover with caramel-colored hair and green eyes was talking animatedly to Silena. She seemed really sweet. I remembered Silena telling me that she and Grover were together. Her boyfriend was a scuffy looking dude with curly brown hair and a wispy beard and a rasta-cap. He looked nice too. For a guy, anyway.

Chris looked Hispanic and had black hair and brown eyes. Clarisse, his girlfriend (Silena called it a miracle that Chris came to Goode in 9th grade because he was the only person who could calm her down) had stringy, unevenly cut brown hair, and looked pretty buff. She was currently arm-wrestling Chris (and beating him at it).

The quiet one – Nico – seemed like a pretty decent person. He didn't seem like somebody who would get on your nerves or anything. I could probably get along with him - I wouldn't bother him, and he'd leave me alone. Simple as that. He had olive skin, dark hair, and eyes of a brown, nearly black hue, so that his pupils were hardly visible. _Although, _I reasoned,_ that was partly due to the strong sunlight, which caused people's pupils to contract, making it easier for his dark irises to appear to blend in. _He had high, strong cheekbones and sharp features, and was actually pretty handsome, in his own way.

I was knocked out of my reverie by Thalia's stage whisper. "Everybody be quiet! They're coming! Clarisse, be quiet!"

A redhead was leading a blindfolded dude to the table, while precariously holding a closed box. He stumbled and nearly tripped. "Whao, Percy, careful!" she said.

Silena gestured surreptitiously at them. "That's Rachel and Percy. They're close friends, and Rachel really likes him. I bet this is the year they're finally gonna become a couple! They're pretty cute together, too."

She sat him down at the table and took off the blindfold. His friends then sang a painfully off-key rendition of the Happy Birthday song. When they were done, everybody started talking at once. Percy was grinning like a lunatic, and said something to Grover that elicited a laugh. Then he spotted me.

"Who're you?" he demanded.

Silena beamed. "This is Anne, she's going to Goode with us next year."

"Hi. Um, happy birthday," I said.

He stared at me, a weird expression on his face. The redhead spoke up from behind me, where she was putting down the box and taking out the cake. "Cool! I'm Rachel. That's Percy. You know everybody else, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah." She went and sat down next to Percy, Thalia scooting over so she had space to sit. "So, what's up, guys?"

Grover glanced towards the food-table. "Um, can we eat now?"

Everybody laughed and got up. I followed them and took a slice of pizza for myself. Percy picked up a piece of celery and pretended to whack Chris with it, in which Chris picked up another piece of celery and they began mock sword-fighting. Eventually Percy broke Chris' piece of celery, at which everybody burst out laughing. So that was what the celery was for. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. Boys were _so_ immature.

* * *

><p>Later, when most of the food was gone, (including the celery – Percy had defeated Chris, Grover, and Nico, all in a row, but then his celery-stick lost to Clarisse's) we all sort of sat back down (except for me – the table didn't have enough room, so I was standing up, pretending I didn't want to sit down). Rachel, I noted, seemed very eager to sit right next to Percy again. Her hand "accidentally" brushed his every time she moved or laughed or talked. It was obvious from the way Rachel acted towards Percy that she was fond of him. Majorly. She was dropping so many hints! I couldn't help but wonder if he liked her back, since it was hard to tell; perhaps he was in denial?<p>

For some reason, I felt positive I'd seen Rachel's face before, but I just couldn't quite remember where... I was pretty sure she resembled one of my mom's many employees I glimpsed from time to time. Yeah. That was probably it. I knew that whoever I had seen before that looked like Rachel didn't have her flaming red hair. She was wearing a maroon Stanford sweatshirt - my mom had been accepted to Stanford, but she eventually chose Harvard because she got a full scholarship there - and these semi-flared jeans that had stains all over them. On closer inspection, they looked like splattered paint and marker doodles. The pants were a little too long, so the bottom edges were ratty and worn, and were ripped in the knees. Personally, I would never wear pants like that or damage them by drawing all over the fabric. I liked things to be nice and clean and straight and neat. I doubted she was a very organized person - she seemed to have a sort of messy, carefree, happy aura.

Rachel spoke up. "Are you taking Greek? We all are. It's sort of a thing our group has always done."

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Greek 4?" Rachel prodded. According to Silena, in 7th grade, they all took Greek 1A, and 1B in eighth. Freshman year they took Greek 2, 10th grade – Greek 3, so now, in their Junior year, they were all taking Greek 4.

I shook my head. "AP Language and Culture."

Percy decided to interject. "So, you're a smarty, huh?" His tone bothered me - it sounded almost like he was laughing at me, referring to my intelligence as a joke. He probably didn't realize it, but I did.

I glared at him. "First of all, I hate that type of candy. And what's wrong with being intellectually advanced?"

He raised his hands. "Why are you assuming that I think that? I never said there was anything wrong with being smart."

He was seriously annoying. "You implied it."

"Oh yeah?"

I gritted my teeth. "_Yeah_, you did. And I, for one, did not appreciate it."

Silena tugged on my arm. "Chill, _Anne_. He didn't mean to offend you."

I sighed and shot one last glare at Percy before turning away. I never noticed before – he was very good-looking, with boyish features that complimented his face and his smile. His eyes seemed to stand out, too – a vivid, intense green. Raven-black hair, lightly tanned skin, green eyes. Not ugly on the outside, but I had no doubts about his inner evil-ness that it seemed so many guys shared. Including Luke... Honestly, though. He just seemed like such an annoying person.

Since Silena drove us here in her car, I'd have to stay for a bit. I sighed. This was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

><p>I nibbled half-heartedly at a thin slice of the chocolate cake Rachel had brought. Silena was having a blast hanging out with her friends - she hadn't seen them since the end of school, since she'd been busy with me after Chiron's leaving and all. I felt ashamed that I had been unintentionally keeping her away from her friends (she had had to miss Percy's real birthday party last Saturday and I hadn't even known because Silena was too nice to refuse anything), so I didn't want for her to have to leave just because I wasn't really enjoying myself. Silena was giggling at something Percy had just said about how he wished they had dyed the cherry coke blue while Rachel playfully poked his shoulder. I couldn't help but resent them for excluding me – then again, it wasn't their fault I didn't understand all the inside jokes of theirs. They were all kinda huddled up at a long to my far right and I was sitting at the table with all the food and drinks, sort of behind the stuff. Either way, none of them could see me. I glanced back at the table, frowning. They seemed to be missing something - or someone. Earlier, hadn't there been...<p>

The back of my neck prickled and I could feel somebody's presence, about a yard behind me. I whipped around to see Nico sitting down casually at the end of the bench, silent as a ghost.

"Did you hear me?" he asked, looking a bit surprised.

I shook my head. "I just tell that you was there."

He nodded his head, looking almost impressed. "You've got good senses. Thalia likes to call me The Wraith because I'm an expert at sneaking up on people. Percy's the only person who can tell that I'm there, every single time. Grover says it's like I can turn invisible - well, more like blend into shadow. Comes in handy sometimes."

"Comes in handy? How? So you can spy on people and use it as blackmail?"

He grinned. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

He jerked his head in Percy's direction. "Why aren't you sitting with them?"

"Why aren't you?"

"I was earlier. And then I wanted to sneak up on you. But it didn't work."

"Guess you're losing your touch, huh?"

"Uh, no. My talent won't go away until I'm so old I can't move without creaking like a door hinge. Maybe it was beginner's luck. But it's probably just you."

Good or bad thing?"

"Good for you, bad for me if I want to get leverage of some sort."

"I guess my secrets are safe then." I tried to hide my fear - he was joking, but if this guy wanted to, he could probably figure out my identity. No matter what, I couldn't let that happen.

"Yup. You're like Percy, then, I guess," he said thoughtfully.

I frowned. "That's a bad thing."

Nico chuckled quietly. "Percy's not that bad. He's been my best bro for... What, since we were eleven? He's pretty cool once you get to know him."

I shrugged. Something about Percy made me feel... Uncomfortable? No, that wasn't quite the right word for it. More like _nervous_, but not quite that either. Whatever it was, I guess that was part of the reason he irritated me. But he just wasn't my type of person in general.

Nico glanced at me. "Where'd you go before Goode?"

"I was homeschooled." Not entirely a lie - Chiron did sometimes come to my house to teach me after I had moved to NYC.

"Whoa. Really?"

"Yeah, what's so unbelievable about it?"

"It's just that it's really hard to transfer to Goode or start as anything other than freshman in general, but homeschooled? You must be a genius."

I laughed. "No. I wish I was one, but I'm not even close." My mom was a genius, though – something I was constantly reminded of.

Nico nodded, standing up. "I actually gotta go. See you on Wednesday, then."

"See you." I went to pour myself a refill. When I turned around, he was gone. _The Wraith, indeed._I was right - this guy was pretty cool. Way better than that annoying Percy.

I was picking up the soda when Silena suddenly gasped. "Annab– I mean Anne – I'm so sorry!"

She looked like she was about to cry. "I totally ditched you! I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry, Anne!"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "It's no big deal."

"I didn't mean to forget about you! Come on, sit with us!"

I obliged and came over. One girl – I didn't quite catch her name when Silena introduced everybody – gave me a sideways look before she turned back to face Clarisse. The first thing you noticed about her was her eyes. A clear, vivid blue, the color of the sky right before dusk that really stood out. Blue eyes weren't that special, but her eyes reminded me of a lake – deep, clear, and blue. She didn't look too tanned, but not deathly pale, if that's what you were thinking. And no, I'm not into vampires. Her black hair was cut pretty short. It looked like she had formerly had a pixie cut, and then grew it out an inch or two. Her spiky hairdo made her give off a wild vibe, if that made sense. It was obvious she was no pushover. She was wearing dark makeup, especially around her eyes, which accented them even more. She had a pretty bold style when it came to clothing – could you call it punk? Something about her looked familiar, but I just couldn't put my finger on it...

A memory surfaced at the back of my mind, but then slipped out of reach once again. This was going to drive me insane. Where had I seen those eyes before?

"Thalia?" I blurted out. She narrowed her eyes, and must of misinterpreted my quizzical look. "What? Oh, yeah, Nico. Don't worry about him – he comes and goes. He has a thing for leaving in the middle of parties. Dunno why."

_I wasn't asking about Nico,_ I thought. What I was confused about was who _she_ was. Thalia. Where had I heard that name before? I had always had an uncannily sharp memory – I was really good with remembering faces and their corresponding names, and I _definitely _remembered her face from somewhere; just couldn't quite remember where…

_Thalia… Thalia… Tha—_

I froze. How could I have been so stupid? She was Thalia Grace! Of course!

I turned to her. "Is your last name Grace?"

She frowned at me. "How do you know my last name, kid?"

I scowled right back at her. "Don't call me _kid_. I'm just as old as you."

She grinned. "I like you. What's your name again?"

"Anne. Anne Chaneys."

"Cool. So how do you know my last name again?"

I swallowed hard. "I saw your name on the school roster when I was turning in my transfer paperwork."

She seemed to buy the lie. "Maybe that means we'll have some classes together."

I smiled, mainly out of relief. "Yeah, hopefully."

I noticed Silena giving me a questioning stare, so I flashed her my "I'll-tell-you-later" look. She knew that Chiron had dealt with all the paperwork – I only took my confirmation placement exams and that was it.

It was mid-afternoon, Percy had to go somewhere about ten minutes ago (thankfully), and people were starting to leave. Finally, Silena and I said our goodbyes to the lingering few, and headed back. Her friends weren't as scary as I thought they'd be…

A bit weird – I mean, how many teenagers do you know that battle with celery sticks? But overall, they were alright. I had forgotten what hanging out with other people – especially guys – was like. Now all I had to do was get through the school year. 180 days to go.

Oh, and I definitely needed to figure out how _Thalia_- of all people! - ended up here.

**Author's Note: Since Katie Gardner's appearance was never really described in PJO, what do you guys think she looks like? I'm open to suggestions J Yes, there will be Tratie. Katie and the Stoll brothers will be introduced once Annabeth – I mean Anne – starts school.**

**If any of you are interested, please do check out my one-shot! It's part of the reason I've taken so long on this chapter… Hopefully it'll serve as a decent apology for the delay, since I take so long to write for all of you fantastic readers out there. Yes, I am shamelessly advertising my stories, but really, I do appreciate your continued support – it's what keeps me up late on Sunday nights, furiously typing away. **

**May the Gods Be Ever in Your Favor—**

**Annabeth – Athena's Daughter**

P.S. Today is Hermione Granger's birthday, everyone! (September 19th)


	4. Chapter 4: Encountered Again

CLMCLMN Ch 4

_Encountered Again_

**A/N: Rejoice! It's summer vacation! AKA time for me to be lazy. Seriously, I sleep in until noon every single day. It's kind of sad. **

**I want to thank you all for STICKING WITH ME HERE even though I've been gone for so long. Seriously, it means a lot to me. And for convincing me to FINALLY GET OFF MY BUTT AND UPDATE GOSH DANG IT. **

**And OVER 100 REVIEWS? Awmahgawd here – virtual camp necklaces and coral pendants from Percy to everybody as a way to show my eternal gratitude. I wish I could respond to each and every review, but I can't. But don't worry – I DID read them all over, and I thank you guys for reviewing and sharing your advice and encouragement and awesomeness with me. **

_**Recommendation: "Omnia Vincit Armor"**_** by **_**dnrl**_**. This is another one of those deep, amazing one-shots that really delves into Annabeth's evolution as her experiences with Percy transform the way she thinks about love. It's sweet and so Annabeth-y all at once.**

**This isn't a particularly exciting chapter, unfortunately; Annabeth will start school next chapter, if all goes as planned. This chapter mainly is explanations and building up the relationship between "Anne" and Nico, because obviously this type of story needs a love triangle of some sort. **

**And without further ado – enjoy!**

* * *

><p>I remembered Thalia from a long, long time ago. Back in San Francisco, up until she moved away to New York City, she had been my closest friend. In elementary school, people didn't care as much about social statuses, and so I had a lot more friends, but Thalia had always been the only one I could truly trust and depend upon, and we had always shared our deepest secrets. She had practically been my sister – my only other comfort besides my periodical contact with my mother at that time. I'd been a lot shorter than her in elementary school, even though I was a couple months older than her, and Thalia was always protective of me, too. Like a real older sister, she always stood up for me – like the time she issued a death-threat to the annoying boys who would always bother me and tug on my curly hair, although afterwards she always teased me about it and said that they only bugged me because they liked me. Ha. As if.<p>

But then at the beginning of that December in fourth grade, she had told me that her mother, who was an actress who hadn't hit the jackpot yet, was going to move to New York City for the main female role in a TV sit-com soap opera. She, her twin brother, and her mom had moved out over winter vacation, and I hadn't seen her since. We'd tried to keep in touch, of course, but it's really hard to stay best friends with somebody you never see in person. Eventually the emails slowed, the calls stopped, and we didn't talk anymore. And I never could bring myself to make the effort of trying to communicate with her again, abandoning her contact information to the depths of the abyss of non-accessed-stuff-still-stored-on-my-phone-that-I -never-bothered-to-delete.

I'd totally forgotten that Thalia had moved to NYC years before. It was a miracle of miracles that, out of all the high schools here, both she and I had the good fortune to end up going to the same one. I wanted to tell her how much I'd missed her and how glad I was to see her again, but there was the obvious dilemma that she'd always known me as Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. Yeah, that was a major problem. I had to pretend I didn't know her. Ok, so maybe not so fortunate after all.

For now, I was Anne Chaneys, and Thalia and I were just casual acquaintances, with no past history whatsoever. I just hoped I wouldn't let something slip, because that would be very bad. Very, very bad. Gosh, keeping up this whole act was really stressful. (Silena should give me more credit.)

The good thing was that I hadn't seen Thalia in years, so she'd probably changed a lot. But even in my short conversation with her, I'd recognized the Thalia I knew – in the confidence, the grin, the attitude. Yeah, this was Thalia alright. I was such an idiot for taking so long to recognize my old best friend. (Good times…)

But enough of the nostalgia. I had more important things to deal with. School was starting soon, and I was really stressing out because I only had two days left. I'm the type of person who really, really likes to be prepared. Ready, you know? But I felt like I had no idea what to do or how to behave at school. I wanted to disguise myself really well. My appearance as already taken care of by Silena – what I was worried about was my personality. I wanted to be Anne Chaneys, not Annabeth Chase anymore – somebody entirely different; unrecognizable.

Maybe fleshing out a false personality for myself would make me have something to fall back on, so if somebody asked me something I won't have to freak out and be like, _Crap. What would Anne Chaneys do right now? _

No, I wouldn't let myself get caught in a situation like that. But then what should my personality be? Should I be really shy, or cocky, or what? Should I be a (cringe) nerd?

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I should just be myself. The real Annabeth. Not the Annabeth Chase singer; just me. Because _I _was completely different from my artist self. Since I began my professional career, Apollo had convinced me to act like somebody else, ten years older than me. "You're fun, outgoing, but mature," he told me. "You love to go shopping and hanging out with your friends. You've dated several guys in the past, but now you're single." Why? Because apparently, it wouldn't work well with the public and paparazzi for me to be a teenage bookworm who had never been interested in boys. It would be, as Apollo put it, "unsexy". No, instead, I should act like I'm into hair and makeup and nails and stuff.

So that's what I did. Gone was the Annabeth who loved architecture and chess and Dickens and the _Wall Street Journal_. When I was on tours, or being interviewed on a show, or anywhere around the paparazzi piranhas, I acted like a normal-girl-celebrity – not a "bad girl", but not my goody-two-shoes self. It was pretty annoying, but necessary for publicity.

Then again, I would never share my true interests and hobbies with the general public even if Apollo had wanted me to. It was too personal, too intimate.

But that's perfect, then! Because now, I _can_ be myself. I don't have to please my manager by behaving older and "funner" (which, to my exasperation, Apollo still insists is a real word). I can act like the real Annabeth. I wondered if maybe Chiron was hinting at that when he told me to "live a real life". Did he want me to have the opportunity to express my true self when I went to school at Goode? Sometimes I think Chiron's even wiser than my mother.

But still, I was stressing out over school. This was my first time attending a real school so long. Maybe being isolated from people my age these past couple years has made me lose my social skills. I was nervous about everything. If I acted like I normally did, would I receive the same "nerd" label as before? Silena had cheerily told me the other day that if anybody dared mess with me she and her friends would go and deal with it. She's so sweet. I'm honestly really lucky that she's been with me while I've been expanding my artistic career and that her dad's been flexible enough to move back and forth with her. If I didn't have Silena – my only friend that was my age – I think I might have gone insane.

She and I had a special kind of friendship bond, because we shared the secret of who I was and what she was doing in San Francisco. Silena, Apollo, Chiron, and later Dionysus and Ariadne all had to sign an official form where they swore not to reveal my identity or disclose their affiliation with me. And anyway, they're all good people I can trust – I handpicked all of them, with the exception of Apollo, because he works for the recording studio company. Silena's job as a stylist was like her alter-ego – none of her friends had any idea about her secret profession, or about me. As far as they knew, she and her dad had moved to San Francisco to live with her celebrity mom (whom they were aware was a supermodel) at a vacation home for a year or so, and then they moved back. (In truth, although Belle Aphrodite constantly traveled around because of her modeling shows and shoots, she lived and worked mainly in NYC so she could be with her family as much as possible. Silena's story was plausible, though, because her mom did own vacation homes all over the globe. Also, like many celebrities, Belle Aphrodite didn't give the Beauregard household as her "official residence", because she wanted to shield her family from the paparazzi's invasion of their privacy and intrusion into their lives as much as possible.) Silena had told them she'd met me in San Francisco because we had the same homeschool tutor, and that we both just happened to move to New York City around the same time.

It's a funny coincidence that my mom lives in New York City, because that's also where Silena was originally from. When I first hired her to work for me, she had to move to San Francisco and was tutored along with me by Chiron (although we were given individual lessons separately because we studied different things and were at different academic levels). Her dad was flexible enough to move to San Francisco with her. She was overjoyed when she heard that I was moving to NYC to live with my mother half a year ago (although she was upset at the cause of my move, obviously) because she could return to her old school and friends. I'm glad that she's back home now. Silena's always been a more outgoing person than me – kind of the type of person my singer-façade is. These years have been tough on her, what with being "homeschooled" and all. She tried to hide it for my sake, but I could tell she was lonely. Once we moved to NYC, she went back to school and you could see a visible change in her – she was bubblier and chattier than ever. Happy.

Overwhelmed by memories and thoughts of school, I decided to go back to that park where Percy's unofficial-birthday-party took place. Silena was out shopping with a couple friends – Juniper, I think, and a couple others as well. She'd asked if I wanted to come, but I had insisted I didn't want to.

After grabbing a jacket and a small, inconspicuous bag/purse crossover, I notified Ariadne that I was going out and would be back by lunch. I decided to walk to the park – it was pretty close by (Silena and I had only taken her car on Percy's birthday because we had had to drive to the pizzeria) and generally, I tried to avoid driving here because the traffic was intolerable.

It was a beautiful autumn Monday morning; comfortably cool, with colorful leaves scattered on the sidewalk and in the gutters. The walk to the park took about twenty minutes even though I got confused on my sense of direction a couple times.

There were a few people at the park. A pair of middle-aged women conversing passed me on the trail-road through the park. One was a pretty, pregnant African-American woman pushing a stroller with a sleeping toddler. The other woman, one with laugh lines and a kind, friendly face, was walking a cute large black dog. She smiled at me and said a casual "Hi" as they passed, so I waved back. **(A/N: Guess who? Just the second one.)**

I sat down at the bench where Silena and her friends had all sat two days before and pulled my Kindle Lightning out of my purse/bag. It's collapsible, which is really convenient when you need to fit it in small spaces. When you unfold it, the edges meld together and form a smooth surface. It's made of brilliant technology – using the concept of internally manipulated determined polarity, it's engineered so that the magnetic attraction is enough to force the sides to essentially "stick" together**.**

Today, I was in the mood for some Hemingway. There's something kind of fun about reading his books; everything he writes appears to be so simple but contains so much obscure depth that analyzing it requires a lot of imagination and thinking outside of the box. Instead of one of his novels, I selected his 1927 short story collection – _Men Without Women_ – and was just starting "Che Ti Dice La Patria?" when I felt the prickle on my neck again. I froze.

"Nico?"

I heard a big huff – an irritated exhalation. "How do you do that?"

I turned, smug, to see him leaning against a tree, about five feet away. "Wow, you are losing your touch, Wraith."

He scowled. "Am not."

I snorted. "Don't you think it's kind of creepy to sneak up on people like that? Rude, too."

He shrugged. "What are you doing here again?" He walked around the picnic table and took a seat across from me.

"Just... Came to sort out my thoughts." I paused. "And you know, you haven't properly greeted me yet."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Hi. Happy now?"

"Whatever." I glanced towards him. Something had been bothering me… "Are you and Thalia are dating?" I asked tentatively.

"What?" Nico almost seemed to be blushing. "N-no!"

I gave him my sure-whatever-you-say look.

"No, really, we aren't," he said, regaining his composure. "Thalia's just a friend."

_That's too bad,_ I thought. I was no matchmaker guru like Silena, but from what I could tell, they might work as a couple.

For some reason, I felt slightly happy that he had said he wasn't dating Thalia, too. But I also felt guilty. _What is wrong with me today? _I internally groaned. I glanced toward Nico, and the thought of Percy popped into my mind, for some reason. His eyes, more specifically – his intense sea green eyes. I pushed the thought away. Attractive or not, there was just something about him that got on my nerves.

I'm generally the type of person who's really good at keeping her cool. Nothing really can freak me out (besides spiders). So I was still puzzling over what exactly it was about Percy that really got to me. The fact that I couldn't quite put my finger on it just added to my frustration. I would never admit it out loud, but being around him kind of made me feel self-conscious and jittery inside, and that was really unsettling. And annoying.

Nico tapped his fingers on the picnic table. "Nice Kindle."

"Thanks." Not wanting to seem rude, I folded it up and tucked it into my bag.

"So, Anne…whatcha thinking about?" I got the feeling that Nico was really trying to talk to me.

"None of your business."

"You know, you don't always have to be that defensive."

I'd been staring at the grooves in the wood on the picnic table – but as he spoke I looked up at him, startled. "What?"

Nico shrugged again. "You're a pretty defensive person, you know. Not as much as Clarisse, but you argue a lot."

How was I supposed to respond to that? "Oh." _Was_ I being aggressive? I didn't mean to be. I usually got defensive when I was angry or nervous. "Well, sorry. If I offended you."

"You didn't offend me. I'm just saying."

"I'm not great around people, generally. I guess it's because I'm homeschooled."

Nico looked thoughtful. "Speaking of school, did you get your schedule yet?"

I frowned. "I thought you got your schedule on the first day of school."

"Well, you get your_ official_ schedule then, with the teachers and everything. But did you get an email from the school with a list of classes? Like, in the chart, all seven periods? That's generally the order your classes are in. I got mine yesterday night."

"The 'predicted class listings' email? Yeah. But it said those were just potential schedule arrangements and that you weren't necessarily guaranteed them."

Nico shook his head. "Like, ninety-nine percent of the time that's the order your classes are in. Unless you request an elective change or something. Can I see your schedule? Maybe we have some classes together."

I took out my phone and scrolled down the schedule email as Nico came around the table to sit next to me.

"Since it doesn't list the teachers you don't know which class_room_ you're going to be in, though," I pointed out.

"Well, since languages and electives are mostly only taught by one teacher, as long as we have the same period, we're guaranteed to have that class together," Nico explained. "Same thing with most of the Honors and AP classes too. Let's see…"

Craning his neck, he studied the screen. He let out a low whistle. "You do realize you're basically taking all the most challenging classes a junior can possibly take? You _must_ be a genius."

I couldn't help but blush ever so slightly at the compliment. "Well, everybody here is really smart," I said. "I mean, Goode High _is _a school for advanced students, and all." *

Nico snorted. "Uh, but most of us take about two Honors or AP classes. Four at the max. And Architecture is supposed to be really hard."

"It'll be tough, but I'm sure I can handle it," I said confidently. "Here, you wanna see my phone?"

"Sure." Nico looked at it for a couple seconds. "You have AP Calc 2 second period. Sweet! Me too. And…I think that's it. No, wait. We'll have Honors Chemistry together too, and I'm pretty sure that's only taught by one teacher too."

I smiled. "So, hopefully two classes together? Cool." Even better. Chiron had mentioned he'd arranged with the school administration for Silena and I to get to have the same teacher and period for several classes that we both were taking this year – four of them, I believe. Chemistry, English, History, PE. I was glad to hear that Nico would probably be in my math class, too.

Nico nodded, handing my phone back to me. "Math and science. So I'm guessing you're on the math fast-trak too?"

"What do you mean?"

Nico looked genuinely surprised. "You know, there's some kids who skip Pre-Algebra and Pre-Calc and stuff and end up getting all the way to AP Stat by senior year. Like, you take Algebra 1 in 7th grade, then geometry. In 9th grade I had Algebra 2 Trig Honors, and so I got to skip Pre-Calc and take Calc 1 last year. So this year I'm taking Calc 2."

"Well…You know I was homeschooled, right? And my tutor taught me all the math classes. I didn't really skip a bunch like you. But I learn pretty fast, and he condensed a lot of material, so I got really ahead." I paused and thought for a second. "So, was Algebra 2 Trig Honors like Algebra 2 and Trigonometry and Pre-Calc all kind of combined?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"That sounds pretty challenging," I said, impressed.

"The class was really fast-paced. And there was a lot of homework. But I survived. So it's all cool."

"So, I'm guessing you're like a math and science kind of dude?"

"Yeah, you could put it that way. I'm taking one AP – math – and then two honors, Chemistry and Enviro. Both are science classes."

"Enviro….Environmental science?"

"Yup. It's supposed to be pretty chill, for an Honors class and all, so hopefully it'll be an easy GPA boost."

I looked at Nico thoughtfully. "You could say that I'm mostly math and science too… I mean, I'm taking Calc 2. And Honors Chemistry. And Architecture, which requires engineering."

Nico raised his eyebrows. "Uh, but you're also taking, like, Honors _everything_. Jeez. You're going to die of sleep deprivation this year, you know."

"I'll survive." I paused, then added childishly, in a kind of sing-song voice, "Just to prove you wrong."

Nico grinned. "Oh, I'm sure you'll live. But seriously, imagine how sad it'd be if you died. Like, from stress overload from taking too many challenging classes."

"Gosh, you're so morbid."

Nico continued, "And then on your tombstone we'd have to say, like, 'Here lies Anne. She died because she had too much homework.'"

I shook my head, suppressing a smile. "That, indeed, would be_ very _sad."

Nico glanced at his wrist, lifting up the sleeve of his aviator jacket to reveal an analogue watch. It was small and plain, and looked sort of antique. The rim of the face was silver, and the strap was old-fashioned, made of black leather. "Uh, I have to go soon."

I checked the time on my phone too. "Oh, me too." It was past eleven. I hadn't realized I'd stayed here for so long. "I have to be home by noon." But I didn't move to get up yet. I had a feeling that Nico wanted to ask me something.

He was rocking backwards and forwards on the bench as he sat silently for a few seconds, seeming to be debating with himself about something. Then Nico began speaking rapidly, mostly addressing the table, glancing sideways up at me every couple of seconds. "Uh, you know that the homecoming dance is on Friday? It's on this Friday. Right after school starts. So yeah, there's a dance. And I was wondering if maybe you wanted to be my date to the homecoming dance? If you wanted to. Or not. If you don't want to that's ok too. You don't have to. Uh, yeah…"

Nico looked at me expectantly as he finished his rambling monologue, waiting for my response, and I was struck by how much his hopeful expression made him look like a little kid. It was weird, because clearly Nico was the same age as I was, and he was taller than me and everything. And yet somehow at that moment, all I saw was a much younger boy, one that reminded me a bit of Matthew and Bobby. Even though I had resented the twins back in San Francisco because they got more attention from my dad than I did, I couldn't really blame them for my dad's negligence, could I? They had always just been my cute younger brothers, mischievous but innocent, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss them at all after I'd moved to live with my mom. My favorite memory of them is how they always loved this game called Mythomagic, with these little action figures and cards and stuff, and even though the whole concept was ridiculous I always played with them if they asked me too, at least until my stepmom told me to leave them alone and go do my homework. This, of course, was several years ago – long before I even started my rise to stardom. I was always really good at Mythomagic, too, but I always went really easy on them and purposely sacrificed my best attack cards so they could win, to make them happy.

And so here I was, being asked to the dance by Nico, and even though I honestly wasn't really that interested in him, I knew I could never turn down his offer without feeling guilty. So I replied, "Sure. Yeah, that sounds cool. I'll go."

Nico beamed, as if he was shocked that I had actually said yes. "Oh. Really? Great! Awesome. I, uh, I'll go now," he said, hopping up from his seat next to me. "I'll see you at school, k? We have second period Calculus together, so I'll definitely see you around."

"See you." I leaned down to grab my purse. By the time I'd straightened up and turned back around, he was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: So there you have it! I have a feeling a bunch of you guys are going, "WTH WHY ARE YOU PAIRING NICO AND ANNE TOGETHER, AND RACHEL AND PERCY INSTEAD OF PERCABETH? AGH THIS IS CRAZY I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU!" Just chill, guys. I've got it under control. I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING. NO NEED TO FREAK OUT. Just saying. I mean, come on. What kind of story would this be, without a little bit of drama? <strong>** Just be patient. It'll all work out in the end. I promise.**

*Note: Yes, I know that in the books demigods generally aren't the greatest in school. But since in this story, none of them have dyslexia and ADHD (since they're not demigods), I'm saying they do well in school. I'm trying to keep things as in-character as possible, without ruining the plot. Ok? Cool.

If you think about it, basically Annabeth is the ONLY person in HoO who actually gets good grades and stuff, which is really impressive considering that she has dyslexia and ADHD. I mean, she does way better in school than pretty much any of the other demigods, such as Leo, who only has ADHD, and Piper, who has neither ADHD _or _dyslexia (and therefore is extremely lucky for a demigod). Clearly, Annabeth has had to work very hard to do well in school, because she has to overcome some obstacles that most kids don't have to face. I know some of you might say that she only does well in school because she has Athenian blood, but I would argue that saying Annabeth is just "naturally smart" is not enough to make her automatically do well in school. She still has to work harder than most kids to focus in school and to read despite her dyslexia and all. Seriously, that deserves a lot of respect.

And to go off on a tangent, honestly, I think maybe being a child of Athena doesn't make you naturally do well in school. I think it just means you're the type of person who is motivated enough to care about how well you do in school, so much so that children of Athena put in extra effort so that they can get good grades. It's psychology. Athenian kids are not only expected to do well in school by other demigods, but more importantly, they're the type of people who expect _themselves _to do well in school. I know Athena has some children who are just born brilliant geniuses, but I think that average children of Athena aren't necessarily born uber-smart, but they're born with ambition that motivates them to aspire to superior merit – to do well in school, even if it requires for them to work much harder than normal kids. Because honestly? Being smart is no guarantee of doing well in school. I mean, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison and many other legendary "smart" people did so poorly in school that they got kicked out. I think that anybody – _anybody_ – can do well in school if they put in enough effort. And maybe Athenian kids are just born with the kind of ambition that makes them put in that effort to do well in school, which is the real reason behind their success.

I'm just pointing out that maybe, if you know some kid that is, like, AMAZING at everything in school – maybe they're not born naturally "smart". Give them more credit, guys. Maybe they do well because they just try really, really hard in school. Why? They're ambitious. And you know what? Good for them.

So yeah. (rant over) But the point is, since in this story none of them are demigods, thus none of them have ADHD/dyslexia, and because Goode is a school for advanced students I'm just going to say that they all do decently in school. Clearly, none of the others are going to be as A+++ as Annabeth, but they're going to be good enough to go to Goode. Cool? Cool.

By the way, have you guys seen the trailer for the Sea of Monsters movie? Whaddya think? Is there still hope for it? It looks like they're making an effort to try to salvage what's left to create a movie with some actual semblance to the original book series. I think the good thing is that even if they do bomb this movie too, it won't matter that much because they already hit rock bottom with the first movie. My expectations are really, really, really low already. But from what I've seen so far, I think they're trying to make it better. Which is good.

Some things in the trailer made me cringe, some things made me say, "Hey, at least it's a step in the right direction."

Honestly? I dunno about Annabeth's hair… Ok, so it's semi-blondish now. But IT'S NOT CURLY AHHH. Which, you know, I guess doesn't matter that much, except for the fact that Alexandra Daddario is always wearing a braid in this movie. WHAT HAPPENED TO CURLY-HAIRED PONYTAILS? Just saying. Oh, well. It's blonde – or very nearly so. So I guess it's acceptable. I dunno; I'm just OCD-ish over this kind of stuff.

But I feel like they're kind of MISSING THE POINT. Just dying her hair blonde isn't going to make people happy. That's not the important thing. The problem is that they completely butchered her PERSONALITY in the first movie. THAT'S the problem. The significance of the blonde hair was to defy the stupid stereotype of "dumb blondes". If you're going to dye her hair blonde, but still make Annabeth semi-stupid, then what's the point?

See, if they kept Annabeth's personality in the first movie, I wouldn't even have had such a big fit over the hair. The major problem I had with Annabeth in the first movie wasn't just her appearance; it was that her character in the movie failed to convey the Annabeth of the books – the independent, stubborn, kickass Annabeth. (Side note: Did anybody else get pissed off by the fact that she was SO OBSESSED WITH PERCY in the movie, which is nothing like the books… And I practically threw a tantrum (in my head) when in the movie Percy said, "Guys, I have a plan" or something. And I was like NO YOU STEALER OF ANNABETH'S LINE. WHYYYY? Would it have been that hard for them to have Annabeth say "Athena always has a plan"? And they DELETED the scene where she says "You drool in your sleep" which is, like, a majorly important quote.)

** Oh, well. What's done is done. And maybe they'll fix all this stuff in the second movie. Here's to hoping that this one won't be a disgrace. *Raises glass of blue cherry coke* (Yes, for you, Percy. No need to go rub it in now.)**

**-Annabeth**


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